APOLOGY TO LAWRENCE KENWRIGHT

On the 25th April we published an article about Signature Living Chairman Lawrence Kenwright. The article was entitled “Signature Living Boss Bitten By Dog After Angry Altercation With Pensioner Protecting Potential Hotel Site”. We acknowledge that this headline and certain aspects of the article were factually incorrect and misleading and gave rise to the negative impression that Mr Kenwright was the instigator of this incident, when in actual fact it was Mr Kenwright who was attacked and the victim of the incident. We apologise to Mr Kenwright for this error and any distress this may have caused and which may have given rise to any misrepresentation of the facts and events.
We are happy to correct those facts and confirm the correct version of events as below:

SIGNATURE LIVING CHAIRMAN ATTACKED BY DOG AFTER VISIT TO HOTEL DEVELOPMENT SITE

Lawrence Kenwright the Chairman of Liverpool based property developer and hoteliers Signature Living was attacked by a man’s dog as he was filming a new promotional video about his regeneration plans for Denbigh Asylum in North Wales.

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Mr Kenwright had just finished filming in the grounds of Denbigh Asylum and was leaving the site when he was approached by a local man Elwyn Pierce – who is known to the area and a former caretaker at the site – asking Mr Kenwright to leave the property.

Mr Kenwright explained that he had been to the site many times before and had met Mr Pierce previously. During this process Mr Pierce became aggressive and hostile towards Mr Kenwright and continued to order him and his cameraman to leave the site. Throughout this process Mr Kenwright remained calm and composed as Mr Pierce continued to be hostile to him. Mr Pierce then threatened to release his German Shepherd dog onto Mr Kenwright at which point Mr Kenwright pleaded with Mr Pierce not to do so because of the trouble it would cause for him if the dog attacked anyone.

The altercation then culminated in Mr Pierce opening the rear door of his vehicle to release his German Shepherd. Whilst Mr Pierce was holding the dog by the collar the dog then lunged forward in the direction of Mr Kenwright’s stomach and in the process bit Mr Kenwright’s hand.

Another group of men belonging to the Facebook group “Denbigh Matters” were also on the site at the time and filmed the incident.

A spokesman for Mr Kenwright said;

“Mr Kenwright had been at the site filming a new promotional video explaining about the regeneration of Denbigh and the plans for a new training academy when Mr Pierce approached him and the cameraman and ordered them to leave the site. Mr Kenwright explained they had met before on a few occasions and that he was leaving the site. Mr Pierce became very hostile and aggressive and threatened to release his dog which he then did and it attacked Mr Kenwright. Throughout the entire incident Mr Kenwright showed remarkable restraint remaining calm and diplomatic throughout the whole process. Sadly this is not the first time that Mr Pierce has attempted to throw people off the site in a very aggressive and intimidating manner and still sees himself as a self imposed caretaker of the site”

He added; “Mr Kenwright called North Wales Police to report a complaint of assault and Mr Pierce has since been interviewed under caution by the Police. The whole incident was uncalled for and totally unnecessary as Mr Pierce has not been employed by the company which owns the site and his actions taken were disproportionate, unreasonable and not justified. Mr Kenwright suffered an injury to his hand as a consequence. As a dog lover Mr Kenwright was more concerned about the welfare of the dog and has stated to North Wales Police that he does not want the dog to be put down under any circumstances. The irony is that had the plans to develop Denbigh been successful Mr Kenwright would have gladly offered Mr Pierce a job with the company.“

On Tuesday (26th April) of this week a decision was taken by Denbighshire County Council to award the development of the site to a local company Jones Bros in conjunction with North Wales Building Preservation Trust.

Commenting on the decision Mr Kenwright said “I feel it is a sad day for Denbigh, they have lost an amazing opportunity to give 450 jobs to the local community and surrounding areas which will generate a huge amount of tourism to an area that desperately needs a catalyst to bring Denbigh Asylum back to its former glory.”

Signature Living which developed the £42m coal exchange building in Cardiff into a luxury hotel, has an impressive track record of developing former derelict and listed buildings and turning them into highly successful luxury hotels achieving consistent 96% occupancy in its hotels as an owner operator. It’s 30 James Street hotel- home to the Titanic – was recently voted Best Hotel In The UK at the recent Travel Republic Awards 2018.

Mr Kenwright added “ We remain fully committed to a development program to search for and invest for derelict and listed buildings across Wales that we can regenerating and breathe new life into these buildings and the local communities.”

3 Comments

Suggest people watch the video themselves and make their own minds up. Mr Kenwright did not have permission to be on the site. Nor did any of his party who also knew that they should not have been there. Mr Pierce is the keyholder who has valiantly looked after the site for many years.
Maybe the social media comments after the incident such as “patronising” , “passive aggressive tesspasser” and other such which were used to describe Mr Kenwright were closer to the truth.
Very surprised that this publication have climbed down and quoted a spokesman who has been very economical with the truth.

As a private investor who has invested heavily in signature projects over the years, I’m appalled to see his behaviour which does not paint a pretty picture. This “stunt” is likely to cost him dearly in the future as investors who are already wary of his inability to bring projects together in a timely manner see him for what he really is. much of his investment for development projects is funded by every day people like the gentleman he confronted in the videos as he is unable to obtain conventional high street finance, his behaviour does not bode well with the people he relies upon to fund his developments.